Families of veterans face growing emotional and financial toll in providing care

A survey commissioned by the nonpartisan Elizabeth Dole Foundation and conducted by the RAND Corporation found those caring for military members or veterans are an increasingly large group and stretched increasingly thin. It estimates more than 14 million Americans are caring for a service member and spend $9,000 a year out of pocket for care. Lisa Desjardins discussed more with Bob McDonald.
Geoff Bennett:
Now some new insights into the caregiving crisis in America.
A new report from RAND has found one group is especially struggling, those caring for veterans.
Lisa Desjardins has more.
Lisa Desjardins:
The national survey was commissioned by the nonpartisan Elizabeth Dole Foundation and conducted by the RAND Corporation. They found those caring for military members or veterans are an increasingly large group and stretched increasingly thin. The study estimates more than 14 million Americans are caring for a current or former service member.
Even with the Veterans Administration in place, those families spend an average of nearly $9,000 a year out of pocket for care, that as 39 percent of these caregivers are also raising a child, and those children are helping with at least one caregiving task.
Joining me to discuss this is former secretary of Veterans Affairs and the chairman of the Elizabeth dole foundation, Bob McDonald.
Now that figure, 14 million caregivers who have served, that’s nearly triple what it was in 2014.
Robert McDonald, Former U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary:
It was a shock to us, Lisa.
In 2011, actually, the research began. That original study found 5.5 million caregivers. But the way we asked the question was, it was a very simple, single question, are you a caregiver? This study, the methodology was a little bit different, and we asked the questions of the behaviors of a caregiver.
Are you bathing the person you care for? Are you supplying their medications? Are you taking them to doctors? And what we discovered was the real number is, as you said, 14.3 million, and it was shocking to us how big it was.
In a way, it wasn’t surprising, because the population is aging.
Lisa Desjardins:
There has been some positive news in a sense, because more service members are surviving battlefield trauma. But what does that mean on the other end in terms of the mental and physiological care that they need?
Robert McDonald:
Well, that’s exactly a great point.
You’re 10 times more likely to survive the battlefield today than in previous wars. That means that we have more veterans with more grievous injuries, and that’s what’s requiring the caregiving. The need for caregiving has exploded.
And, unfortunately, a lot of the last war was injuries that dealt with brain injury, which is — mental health is something we know the least about. And as a result of that, many of these caregivers are dealing with what we call the unseen injuries of war.
Lisa Desjardins:
Your survey found that many of these families are hitting points of physical and financial exhaustion.
I want to hear from one of these caregivers. This is Tracy Brown, whose father was in the Air Force and now has dementia.
TRACY BROWN, Caregiver For Veteran:
Fatigue, I’m going to put that at the top of the list, also just being able to continue to live my life and feeling like I totally lost my identity just to be able to care for my dad. And it’s really, really difficult not being able to necessarily find reliable care or care that’s going to be high-quality.
Lisa Desjardins:
So many of us are thinking about and giving care right now. But what’s different for military families, veteran caregivers than the rest of us who are thinking about aging parents?
Robert McDonald:
Well, many of the people coming through the military who are now needing caregiving have relatively low incomes, roughly, the RAND study found 130 percent of the poverty line qualifying for food stamps or SNAP, as we call it, needing financial help.
Lisa Desjardins:
What about government resources? And I know that the study found it was about 35 percent, I think, of these caregivers, military, and veterans, that are at 130 percent or below poverty level.
Robert McDonald:
Right.
Lisa Desjardins:
Government resources, are there enough, or is it just people aren’t connected enough?
Robert McDonald:
It’s a trend. When I became secretary in 2014, it was just at the point where Senator Dole and I worked together. We got some legislation passed that provided a stipend to the caregivers.
Over time, more and more benefits have been added, such as mental health care for the caregiver. But there’s a bill right now that’s gone through committee. It’s in Congress. It’s ready to be passed.
Lisa Desjardins:
The other part of that question, the tough angle, is that we do have a national debt problem. We have a deficit problem. Veteran care is expensive.
We don’t care on the front end. We don’t prevent. We sort of care on the other end. What would you say to those who say they’re concerned about the rise in veterans costs, even as we’re clearly not addressing all of it?
Robert McDonald:
I would argue that on the backs of veterans and veterans families is probably not the place I would start.
We need to take care of our veterans. We’re doing everything we can to try to figure out how to make this financially viable. I think, at the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, we use corporate-private-public partnerships. We work with the VA. We work with companies that want to help.
And as a result, I think the monetary part of it should not be as big of an issue.
Lisa Desjardins:
Bob McDonald, thank you for an illuminating report.
Robert McDonald:
Thank you, Lisa. It’s been a pleasure to be with you.